The Empire State has a new U.S. Senator, and it would appear that after much fumbling and bumbling, Governor David Paterson has backed into a wise selection in the person of U.S. Representative Kirsten Gillibrand. Twice elected to the House in the most reliably Republican district in the state, Gillibrand brings considerable political acumen and diversity of thought to the Senate Democratic caucus. A brilliant fund-raiser, Gillibrand will be a formidable adversary for any primary challenger a year from now. Moreover, as an experienced legislator, she is eminently more qualified for the position than Lady Caroline, who, in the tradition of her late uncle, attempted to make a gift of herself to the people of New York, only to be awkwardly rebuffed by the governor, and quite probably, Senator Chuck Schumer (who is understandably weary of being upstaged by celebrities in the N.Y. Senate delegation).
Most satisfying of all however is the unhinged discomfiture, indeed, fury, of Big Apple liberals in response to the Gillibrand appointment. Much gnashing of teeth and rending of garments has ensued from the Trendy Left quarter of Manhattan at the word of Gillibrand's ascent, showing that Obama's Annunciation/ Coronation/Transfiguration this past Tuesday was insufficient manna for The Tribe of Liberalism. It is not enough for them to have driven the GOP from the Oval Office, or to have drafted themselves a blank check to remake the nation in the image of Sweden or Canada. They want the World.
